Psota, the eviction process in New York City is very long and very expensive. Depending on how hard they fight, it could take 6 months or more and cost the condo owner thousands of dollars in legal fees and who knows how much in lost rent.

1985. Day 43. Phoebe Cates still won't leave my apartment. I do not want to have to evict her, but she insists on walking around topless. All the time. Topless topless topless, day, night, it doesn't matter: topless.

1985. Day 45. Phoebe Cates was eating a bowl of ice cream topless on the couch. Some melted vanilla dripped from the spoon onto her breast; she giggled and scooped it upon her fingertip and brought it back to her mouth. Hasn't she heard of napkins? It's a new couch.

1985. Day 47. Phoebe Cates invited some of her Hollwood girl friends over for a topless slumber party. It went on all night, gigggle giggle giggle, topless topless topless. Does she not realize I have to get up early to go to work so that I can pay rent?

1985. Day 48. Phoebe Cates was all wet and soapy in the shower when she asked me to bring her a towel. She should plan things better before getting into the shower. Does she think I always have the time to soap up her back?

1985. Day 49. Phoebe Cates still won't leave the apartment except to buy groceries or shop for teeny lingerie. Then: it's back in the apartment and off with the top. Always always always off with the top: she says fabric irritates her nipples. Life is full of challenges.

1985. Day 50. I speak with my lawyer about my Phoebe Cates situation. She insists on staying in my apartment, topless. My lawyer says I need to take pictures for him for evidence. He says he needs lots of evidence.

My landlady will never want me to leave. She did whatever she could to get me (new bathroom, private laundry room, new tile kitchen floor, refinished the wood floors and painted in my color schemes), because I was known/vetted as an excellent tenant in the neighborhood. She wanted me badly. She knew of situations like this.

I had to move previously because a mafia wanna be tried to make living there so bad (see Sopranos episode Whitecaps) he could take over the building. The same landlord, different apartment, a girl moved out and left her psycho boyfriend in there. It was so bad the kids next door had to come through my apartment and through a window to theirs if he was out front/in the hall. In both cases, NYC said too bad. They can squat as long as they want. They can spray paint threatening messages on the side of the building and it will still takes months to evict.

CatherineM said:"My landlady will never want me to leave. She did whatever she could to [keep] me... She knew of situations like this [in the article]."

As a part-time landlord, I am nodding my head in agreement. 90% percent of my tenants are/have been good. The other 10% are the ones where 90% of the effort gets spent.

To your specific situation, I once briefly owned a building where there was an elderly lady on a fixed income whose rent hadn't changed in who knows how long. But she was happy living in the same place she had lived for the past quarter century, and kept a good house. No way was I going to let her go and rent to noisy college kids who would leave alcohol stains in the carpet (and other issues), even if I could get 4x what she was paying.

Rocco - I was in that apartment for 15 years before the Sopranos and the weirdo next door showed up (the one the children next door were afraid of). Before me in that apartment was a drunk that got into violent fights with his adult sons (baseball bats!) and left cigarette burns everywhere. Both he and my current landlord could get more, but it's not worth it compared to known stable, clean and reliable.

I was once in landlord tenant court in Nassau County Long Island NY for a commercial eviction. A young lawyer from a non-profit was walking the aisles telling people she would represent them if they needed help. An elderly woman on a fixed income who had rented her home while she was in Florida asked for help in evicting a tenant who had not paid in six months so she could move back in. She said the tenant was trashing the place. The young lawyer had no help for her. She only represented tenants. I understand California is even worse than NY.